1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a logo data generating apparatus and method for creating logo data stored in a printer, and relates further to a data storage medium embodying a computer-executable program for directing a computer to execute the steps of this method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern POS (point-of-sale) systems combine the functionality of a conventional cash register used to smoothly handle the exchange of money in conjunction with a product purchase with functions for collecting and analyzing information relating to the purchased products. POS systems are widely used in the sales and distribution industry, particularly by large and small retailers such as department stores and supermarkets. A POS system typically consists of a server or central computer for serving, collecting and analyzing data, and a number of POS terminals connected to the server or central computer. Each POS terminal is itself also a system and typically consists of a host computer for handling local data processing operations, a line display or other display device, a scanner for reading product bar codes, a cash drawer, and a printer (POS printer) for printing sales receipts and/or other forms.
In addition to the names of the purchased products, quantity, unit price and total cost information, receipts printed by a POS printer typically also have a logo containing the name of the store or company and an identifying brand mark. The logo can also contain image information such as an illustration, product picture, and a graphic design of the product name, for example. This logo printing function can be used to print advertising containing text and images on the receipt so that receipts can also be used as an advertising medium or sales promotion medium.
Logos such as these printed to a receipt consist of digital image data (this logo image data is referred to herein as the “logo data”). Digital images are generally relatively large, which means that the effective printer throughput is reduced when the logo data is sent from the host to the printer each time a receipt is printed.
Color logos can also be printed for even greater advertising effect by using a color printer for the POS printer. Color images, however, are even larger than black and white images and even more time is therefore required for processing the image, receiving the logo data by the printer, and printing. This further slows the printing speed and throughput. At the same time fast printing is essential at a POS terminal because it is desirable to register the purchased products, issue a receipt, and complete transactions at the point of sale as quickly as possible.
With this type of POS printer it is therefore common to store the logo data in the printer so that a logo print command can be simply sent to the printer to read and print the image from memory, thereby achieving high speed printing by saving the time required to transmit the image data when printing a receipt. The logo data is usually stored in the printer using a logo data registration (storage) device.
By thus storing the logo data in the printer before printing it is no longer necessary to send the logo data from the host to the printer when printing, thereby reducing the print data processing time on the host and reducing data transmission requirements. Printing can also be completed more quickly because it is not necessary to send the logo data to the printer.
The size of the printing paper, print resolution, and communication parameters can also differ greatly according to the model of POS printer. With color POS printers even the colors of ink that can be printed (referred to below as the “printable colors”) are limited by the printer model, and the printable colors can even be different in the same model. It is therefore necessary to generate the logo data stored to the printer so that the logo data conforms to such model-specific printer specifications as the print resolution, printable colors, and other printer features and the width of the printing paper. The logo data is therefore generated by first creating the basic image data from which the logo is derived (the “source data” below), then adjusting the size, color, resolution, and other features of the source data according to the characteristics of the target printer. The resulting logo data is then stored to the POS printer using a logo data registration tool. It is therefore necessary to define the model-specific data for the target printer, color reduction method, color assignment, and other specific settings as parameters of the process for generating the logo data from the source data. These settings include numerous items such as the printing paper size and printer resolution. A specific image process is then applied according to the logo size, resolution, print colors, and other parameters based on the printer settings. The communication parameters of the target printer are also set when the logo data is stored to the printer. If these settings are incorrect, problems such as not being able to register or print the logo may occur. Even if the same logo data is registered to multiple identical printers, it is necessary with the method of the prior art to define the above parameters individually for each target printer to which the logo data is to be registered, thus requiring much time and an overly complex procedure.
Once color logo printing becomes possible, it is also expected that POS printers will be more commonly used to print product advertisements, product and service coupons, and other such information on receipts. On the other hand, such advertisements and announcements change frequently so that unlike printing conventional store logos it is also expected that it will be necessary to frequently create new logo data containing current information for a specific purpose (such as promotions and event announcements).
There is therefore a need to be able to register new logo data as quickly and easily as possible, and to edit and change logo data as quickly and easily as possible.